French School, mid-19th century
Two Tigers in a Landscape
Oil on canvas

Unsigned. 18 x 32 inches (45.5 x 81.5 cm), the frame 24 x 38 inches (61 x 96.5 cm). Gilt frame with a name plaque. Paint losses and an old restoration in the lower area, the surface in need of cleaning.

Two tigers rest at the foot of a dark rock face. The one at the right is upright on its forelegs, head raised and turned straight out of the picture, its face fully lit and its ears pricked. The second lies behind and to the left, its body stretched along the ground, its head lowered and turned away.

A mass of rock closes the right half of the canvas, and at the left a heavy plant with thick blade-shaped leaves rises against the sky. Between them the ground opens on a narrow band of evening sky, pale pink and orange over a low horizon, with a slender tree drawn against it. A strip of green grass runs beneath the animals and carries the only cool color in the picture. The striped coats are laid in with broad directional strokes, and the two heads are the most finished part of the canvas.